#lag wagon

The band has been on an almost decade long hiatus after releasing your second album in 2007. The biggest question on everyone’s mind is why did you leave and not only what brought you back – but how difficult was it to stay away? What’s transpired in that time?

It’s a bit long-winded but what basically happened is that we broke up in early 2003 after releasing our full-length [Just Enough Bright] in 2002, but didn't really announce it I don't think. We had done quite a bit of touring and shows up to that point, so everyone was pretty burnt out from that, but I think the main thing that torpedoed us was the inability to find a permanent bass player at the time. It really slowed down our ability to move quickly when it came to touring, shows, etc. I played all the bass on Just Enough Bright for that reason. Then our guitar player wanted to move, so it just kind of added insult to injury. On top of it all I started a web design studio which kept me super busy. 

When we got back going again in 2005 it was because I convinced our guitar player when he moved back up into the area - and in the meantime I had started jamming a bit with Jesse Buglione [ex Lag Wagon] and we got things going again. 

What became “I’m Your Stab in the Back” was really what started as demos for a new record, which is why there was technically only 7 new songs, and the rest was extras from comps and that sort of thing. Our guitar player ended up bailing out again while recording that so I just decided to at least finish up what we had and get it out there. In the meantime, I never stopped writing, but it was of course much less. I played guitar in a hardcore/punk band called Crucial Unicorn for a long time, and we still get together once in a while, and then after that Kem Gallione [drums] and I were playing in a band called Gentlemen of Japan, which was much more like TSD but with 2 singers. What brought us back is that we parted ways with the other vocalist, so it just made more sense to reform as TSD—something I never thought would happen for a variety of reasons, but I always wished could.

 Your new record, Passed & Presence, follows the same vein as your previous record in that it retains the same energetic and emotionally charged qualities of punk music while simultaneously sounding more refined and mature. What would you say has changed from a production perspective between these two albums?

Recording the new album was quite different from Just Enough Bright. On that record, we went in after already doing demos for most of the songs, we were a three piece so there was much less to worry about, we had a label behind us and we had a producer (J Robbins). We were very prepared and rehearsed because we were younger and able to practice three times a week without worrying about families, demanding jobs, mortgages and all that stuff. When we went in, we recorded at Tiny Telephone in SF which is over an hour from where we live, so we were there for I think 12 days straight. 

On this record we’re a 5 piece, recorded it locally, and spread it out more for both tracking and mixing and paid for everything ourselves. Because of that we had the chance to improvise a bit more, try some different things and come back to it if we needed to. I think in some ways it’s more simple, but in others it’s much more complex and layered.

 It’s been said that every song on this album has a unique identity that stands on its own and that quickly becomes apparent on a track by track basis. Tracks like “I’m Not Done” have a very slow building and melodic post rock atmosphere whereas tracks such as “Hey You Dropped Something” are more quickly paced with aggressive riffs leading the way. Expounding on that notion, what can you share about how these songs were written from a lyrical and instrumental angle?

I take it as it comes—there is not much in the way of premeditation. I just pick up a guitar one day when I have time and if something comes out that I like, I keep working with it until it gets to the point where it could be a contender. The process of writing “I’m Not Done with you” is indeed much different than “Hey, You Dropped Something. They both happened to be first played on acoustic, but on the former involved a lot of layering on my part during writing. 2nd guitar parts, bass parts, keyboard parts, rhythm ideas, etc. Which nowadays I do all by running it into an iPad in Garageband using an iRig. 

The latter however, was pretty raw and I wrote the main rhythm guitar and vocals all on their own, and then brought it into the band and let the rest of the guys fill in the blanks.  

Lately there has been a resurgence in the emo/punk scene with today’s youth leading the charge. With Time Spent Driving being an integral piece of American punk history, how are you feeling about the recent “punk renaissance” and where do you think it’s ultimately headed?

I love it—for a long time I had a hard time finding new bands that I dug. Now you hear a band like Beach Slang or This Town Needs Guns, who are taking cues from much older bands and improving on them or taking them in a new direction. Now I’m excited at the opportunity to hear new stuff.

 With the new album comes new opportunities to tour and meet fans around the world. With that said, are there any details you can share regarding potential tour plans in the works?